Dressing up a pig. [o]

All done up. Fit/feel is much better than the Preston, based on about two hours of trail time this morning, fine tuning/tweaking things. A nothing fancy Bullit clone. Seems to pedal well so far, from my short ride. Intentionally have the Propedal cranked nearly off to start with.

14" bb height with the shorter shock, giving me 6.3" rear travel. Head angle is sitting between 66-67*, leaning more towards the 66* end. No idea on weight - 34-35# estimate. 15" seat tube, 22" top tube, 43" wheelbase, 17" stays. Gets me the TT length I need, but the shorter seat tube will let me use the Gravity Dropper and drop it further into the seat tube if wanted, like when running a rigid post for lifted stuff during summer. Solved my feeling way to high and on top of the Preston vs. in it problem.

I'm 5'9" with average torso and arms, but short-ish legs, and the Preston just didn't seem right. Always felt too tall and top heavy. this frame seems to carry the center of gravity a bit lower, and gives me more of the "in the bike" feeling.

Nothing stock left on the frame - this is all swapped from my old ride. Only thing new on it is the King reducer headset; getting the frame cheaply this way meant being able to really splurge on that bit. Bought it complete just to get the frame, selling off the original build spec, and my old frame. I'm on track to at least break even, maybe even come out a little ahead.

Do I need this much bike? Hell no. But it sure is fun! My idea for a custom SWD 6-Gun frame was basically the same geometry, but with a 13" BB height, 140mm/160mm travel rear/front based. Short, slack, burly, super low top tube. But not over built like most bikes like that on the market. If SWD resurects from the ashes of Steve's death, that frame may still happen.

Answers: no, not a suspension seatpost. When you actually need to pedal around your local trails to get to stuff, having the seat actually at a useable height isn't a bad thing. http://gravitydropper.com/descenderpost.html
Mine is the one that will let me drop it 1" and 4". The 1" drop rocks when on tight and fast rolling pedaly stuff, and the 4" drop is good the rest. Plus I can drop it down all the way anytime it needs further.

The shock is 8.5 x 2.5. 1/4" shorter on both counts. Gives slighlty less travel, slackened it a bit, dropped the bb down a bit. Gave me juuuust the numbers I was looking for.